Refrigerant distributor



Dec. 8, 1936. A. HESEL REFRIGERANT DISTRIBUTOR Filed Oct. 18, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 8, 1936.

REFRIGERANT DI STRI BUTOR Filed 001:. 18, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inwmtor Patented Dec. s," 1936 2,063,380

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REFBIGERANT DISTRIBUTOR Anthony F. Hoesel, Chicago, Ill., assgnor to Peerless Ice Machine Company, Chicago, Ill., a corporation f Application'october 18, 1935, Serial No. 45,587 l Claims. (Cl. 62-126) While there are several types of refrigerant disvention, and as used vfor cooling a horizontal cirtributors in present day use, none of them are as culation of air.

inexpensively constructed, nor do they propor- Figure is an isometric view of a finned type tion the refrigerant feed, as accurately as my indirect expansion cooling unit employing the in- 5 vention. vention, and as used for cooling a vertical circu- 6 Refrigerant distributors are employed to feed lation of air. refrigerant fluid, proportionally to the various cir- In the drawings, Figures 1, 2 and 3, a chamber cuits of a multiple circuit direct expansion cool- I, bounded by the cylindrical wall 2, top 3 and ing unit, so that each, of the various circuits, will bottom 4, has an internal ring 5, pendent from operate at maximum emciency. the top 3. A tangential inlet "6 discharges into 10 'I'hese cooling units are the expander side of a the annular space 'I between the cylindrical wall compressor-expander series circuit refrigerating 2 and the ring 5. system, in which a volatile refrigerant is circu- 'Ihe top 3 is pierced for the feed tubes 8, which lated. These refrigerating systems are so well project downwardly and are beveled at their l5- known in the art that a further description oflower open ends 9 which, contacting the bottom 'l5 the same is unnecessary, except to point out that 4', ensures that the ash Vapor oriflces- IIJ lie in the refrigerant liquid, in its passage from the common planes prior to the joining, of the tubes compressor side to the expander side, through a i 8 to the chamber I,by soldering, welding or otherform of pressure throttling means, drops in preswise.

i sure and generates a flash vapor, the amount of It will be noticed that all of the tubes 8 .have 20 which depends upon the refrigerant liquid teman equal vertical height.

perature, prior to its passage through the throt- Having described the construction of the retling means, and the pressure to which the refrigerant distributor, I shall now describe its opfrigerant liquid is expanded. veration. Assuming an expanded refrigerant flow- Immediately after the refrigerantliquid pasing through the tangential inlet 6, the annular 25 sage through the throttling means, we have a space 'I whirls the mixture and the unvaporized mixture of flash vapor and unvaporized refrigerrefrigerant liquid, due to centrifugal force genant liquid, both of which must be proportionally erated by the whirling motion, hugs the cylindrifed to the Various circuits of the direct expansion cal Wall 2, down which it flows, in a spiral form,

: cooling unit, in which the remaining unvaporized to the liquid level in the chamber I. 3o refrigerant liquid is vaporized due to the absorp- We shall now assume the refrigerant distributor tion of heat by the cooling unit surfaces. in normal operation vand the liquid level such One of the objects, of the invention, is to proas will allow four of the flash vapor orifices I0 vide a refrigerant distributor which is simple in nearest the top, of each feed tube 8, to be uncovv315 construction. ered. There is then a slightly greater pressure 35 Another object, of the invention, is to provide in the chamber I, than at the top of the tubes 8, a refrigerant distributor which has a greater dein consequence of which flash vapor ows through gree of accuracy, of proportional feeding, thanl the four upper flash vapor orifices .I0 of each tube obtains in any of the devicesin present commer- 8. This flash vapor flow being insufficient to es- .,40 cial use. i tablish pressure equilibrium between the cham- 40 A further object, of the invention, is to provide ber I andthe inside of the feed tubes-8, at theA a refrigerant distributor in which the proportionuncovered orices I0, the liquid height in the al feed'is not materially affected by the entrance fed tubes 8 tends to carry at a higher level than of foreign material. the liquid level in the chamber I, and consequent- Other objects are disclosed in the following. ly the flash Vapor and liquid mixture tends to` 45 Referring to the drawings: feed in equally proportional quantities through Figure 1 is an elevational view, partly broken all of the tubes 8.

to more clearly portray the construction, of a. Assume the refrigerant feed, through the tandistributor embodying the invention, gential inlet E, to be further throttled. The 5o Figure 2 is a cross-sectional view along line amount of flash vapor will then decrease, and the 50 A-A'of Figure 1. f pressure difference, between the chamber I and Figure 3 is an elevational view of a distributor the upper portion of the feed ytubes 8,' will also feed tube as used in Figure 1. decrease, thereby decreasing the differential in Figure 4 is an isometric View of a nned type liquid level between the chamber I and the feed direct expansion c001ing Unit employing the inllbes 8. Since the ash vapor and the unvapor- 55 vized refrigerant liquid are both entering the Assume the refrigerant feed, through the tan-` v gential inlet 6, to be throttled as in the preceeding paragraph, but, due to some cause or other, we shall assume that the refrigerant liquid prior to its passage through the throttle means and the tangential inlet 6 has an abnormally high temperature, which will generate a greater volume of flash vapor than in the preceding paragraph. If this condition occurred instantaneously, the following would happen. There would be an increase of pressure differential, between the chamber I and the inside of the feed tubes 8, which would establish a greater liquid level differential between -the chamber I and the inside of the feed tubes 8, thereby rapidly evacuating refrigerant liquid from the chamber I and establishing a new refrigerant liquid level therein; the said level being such as would uncover a sufficient number of the flash vapor orifices IIJ, which would maintain the proper pressure differential for that condition of operation.

Under certain circumstances I- shall employ flash vapor orifices of graduated size, thereby controlling the variation in liquid level within close limits during a very wide range of capacity of the distributor.

In the fabrication of distributors, of this type,

scale may be formed due to the joining operations of welding, etc., or some foreign body may enter the chamber during operation. Supposing some foreign body might enter the system and plug a flash vapor orifice III on a particular tube. If the plugged orifice is below the refrigerant liquid level, nothing can occur since the open end 9 is more th'an ample to pass the maximum amount of refrigerant liquid necessary. If the plugged orifice is above the refrigerant liquid level, in the chamber I, then automatically, due to decreased flash vapor passage into that par#y ticular -feed tube 8,. there would be an increased pressure differential between that particular Yfeed tube 8 and the chamber I, and the liquid level would rise higher in that particular feed tube 8 as compared with the rest of the feed tubes 8 and the feed then would be practically the same as before the plugging of the flash vapor orice I0.

From the above, it is evident that the proportional feeding,. of the various circuits, is entirely automatic under all conditions of operation.

lIn Figure 4, I show a conventional type of finned cooling coil as used for air conditioning and through which the air, to be cooled, is blown in a horizontal direction. This particular cooling coil comprises four refrigerant conduit circuits superposed one above the other. 'Ihe conduit circuits have inlets II, I2, Il and I4 connected to their respective feed tubes 8, which are brought to a common height, as shown. The conduit circuits have outlets I5, I6, I I 'and I8, which discharge Iinto a suction header I8 threaded at its lower end 2l! for connection to the suction line of the compressor. Between the inlets II, I2, I3 and Il, and the outlets I6, I1, I8 and 20, of the various conduit circuits, are paral' lel courses of finned conduitjoined by the return bends 2i.

In Figure 5, I show a. conventional type of finned cooling coil as used for air conditioning and through which the air, to be cooled, is blown in a vertical direction. Since these types of coils are so Well known in the art and, furthermore, since they do not form an integral part of the invention but are used merely to illustrate the application of the invention, it will suillce to point out that the individualv circuits, in Figure 5, are vertical as against the horizontal circuits of Figure 4, and in Figure 5 the oequivalent numerals are used for the equivalent parts, except that 100 is added to the numerals of Figure 4.

From Figures 4 and 5, it will be noted that the refrigerant flow and the air flow are counterilow, which, while ensuring the maximum possible emciency, also ensures that the various circuits, of either coil, have equal refrigerant vaporizing capacity. v

It will be noted that, with my invention, I am enabled to place my distributor below the cooling coil inlets. This is not true of other types, which necessitate their placement above the cooling coll inlets; therefore, I am enabled to use a much Ysmaller cooling coil enclosing air duct, with my of the same may be employed without departing from the spirit and scope of the same, which is limited only by the following claims.

I claim: 1. In a distributor for proportionally feeding a refrigerant, partly in a liquid phase and partly in a vapor phase, to a plurality of refrigerant circuits, the combination `.of a' chamber, an inlet adjacent the top of the chamber, a plurality of feed tubes extending into the chamber from its top, an annular space, at the top of the chamber, into which the inlet discharges, the said annular space being open to the chamber.

2. In a distributor for proportionally feeding a refrigerant, partly in a liquid phase and partly in a vapor phase, to a plurality of refrigerant ciradjacent the top of the chamber, a plurality of feed tubes extending into the chamber from its top, an annular space, at the top of the chamber, into which the inlet discharges, the said annular space being open to the chamber, and the said feed tubes having spaced apertures.

3. In al distributor for proportionally feeding a refrigerant, partly in a liquid phase and partly in a vapor phase, to a plurality of refrigerant Acircuits, the combination of a chamber, an inlet adjacent the top of the chamber, a plurality of feed tubes extending into the chamber from its top, an annular space, at the top of the chamber, into which the inlet discharges, the saidy annular space being open to the chamber, and the said feed tubes being n at their lower end and having spaced apertures.

4. In a. distributor forproportionally feeding a refrigerant, partly in a liquid phase and partly in a vapor phase, to a plurality of refrigerant circuits, the combination of a chamber, an inlet adjacent the t'op of the chamber, a plurality of feed tubes extending into the chamber from its top, an annular space, at the top of the chamber, into which the inlet discharges, the said annular space being open to the chamber, and the said inlet being Asubstantially tangent to the annular space.

5. In a distributor for proportionally feeding a refrigerant, partly in a liquid phase and partly in a vapor phase, to a plurality of refrigerant circuits, a chamber having a plurality of feed tubes extending downwardly therein and being apertured for a vapor flow from the chamber to the tubes, the said apertures facing the center of the chamber.

6. An evaporator comprising in combination a manifold adapted to receive liquid refrigerant and a plurality of tubes leading upward therefrom, the lower ends of said tubes projecting into said manifold and having lateral apertures through which vaporized refrigerant enters the tubes from the manifold 7. An evaporator comprising in combination a manifold adapted to receive liquid refrigerant and a plurality of tubes extending upward from said manifold, the lower ends of said tubes projecting through the top of the manifold into the same and to a point below the liquid level therein, said projecting ends perforations.

8. An evaporator comprising in combination a manifold adapted to receive liquid refrigerant being formed with lateral and a plurality of tubes extending upward from said manifold, the lower ends of said tubes projecting through the tcp of thevmamfoid into the same and to a point below the liquid level therein, said projecting Vends being formed with lateral perforations graduated in size.

9. An evaporator comprising in, combination a manifold adapted to receive liquid refrigerant and aplurality of tubes leading upward therefrom, the lower ends of said tubes projecting into said manifold and having lateral apertures through which vaporized refrigerant enters the tubes from the manifold, the upward leading portions of the tubes being carried to a substantially common level above the manifold.

10. An evaporator comprising in combination a manifold adapted to receive liquid refrigerant and a plurality of tubes extending upward from said manifold, the lower ends of said tubes projecting through the top of the manifold into the same and to a point below the liquid level therein,

said projecting ends being formed with lateralk perforations, the upward extensions of the tubes being carried to a substantially common level above the manifold.

- ANTHONY F. HOESEL. 

